INTERACTION BETWEEN INDIVIDUAL AND CORPORATE WORK

LIFE BALANCE STRATEGIES AND THEIR ASSOCIATIONS WITH

SUBJECTIVE WELLBEING : EVIDENCE FROM RMG SECTOR
OF BANGLADESH

Md. Kamrul Bari *

Melita Mehjabeen **
Laila Habib ***
Received on 30 December, 2021; Accepted on 26 April, 2022; Published on 31 December, 2022
Doi: 10.5281/zenodo.7497776
Abstract
This research aims to identify if and how individual and organizational Work
Life Balance (WLB) strategies are associated with the perception of Subjective
wellbeing (SWB) of Readymade Garments (RMG) workers in Bangladesh. For
this study, 241 samples from the RMG sector of the country have been selected
and data was collected through structured questionnaire. Ordinary Least
Square (OLS) regression has been conducted to investigate the relationship
among the perception of work life balance and subjective wellbeing of the target
group. Results show that Timing, Tempo, Role Conflict, and interaction between
individual and organizational WLB positively enhance WLB of Bangladeshi
RMG workers. The study also found significant positive relationship among (a)
workers’ beliefs about his/her own satisfaction with life, and (b) autonomy to
set his/her own roster with affective Subjective Wellbeing (SWB) of the RMG
workers of the country. On the contrary, role conflict was found to have a
negative effect on SWB. Interestingly though, the effect of WLB has been found
to have no significant effect on the SWB in the RMG workers of Bangladesh.
Moreover, composite scores of WLB and SWB show that the workers’ work and
life are moderately balanced and overall, they are dissatisfied with their lives.
Wide scale adoption of relevant WLB supportive activities, building awareness
to develop effective individual as well as organizational WLB strategies by
both the corporates and the Government, and rigorous psychological training
will ensure collective wellbeing of the workers in Bangladesh ensuring an
environment of ‘decent work’ in this sector catalyzing Bangladesh’s efforts to go
one step closer towards achieving SDG 8 (Decent work for all). This research
also offers an extensive guideline about the most relevant individual and
organizational WLB strategies to improve WLB status as well as the happiness
of the RMG workers of the country. This study also offers a wide range of future
research opportunities and policy directions to both the RMG managers and the
Government of Bangladesh.
Keywords : Work-life balance (WLB), Subjective wellbeing (SWB), Individual
WLB strategy, Organizational WLB strategy, Satisfaction with life scale (SWLS)
* Doctoral Candidate (DBA), Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Dhaka, Bangladesh
** Professor, Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Dhaka, Bangladesh
*** Senior Lecturer, City University, Dhaka, Bangladesh
34 Journal of Business Administration, Vol. 43, No. 1, June, 2022, ISSN : 1680-9823 (Print), 2708-4779 (Online)

1. INTRODUCTION
Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) were adopted in 2015 by all member
countries of the United Nations with the primary objective of ensuring poverty
eradication, protection of the planet and offering peace and prosperity for all living
human beings by 2030 (UNDP, 2019). SDG 8 focuses on promoting a “Sustained,
inclusive and sustainable economic growth, productive employment and decent work
for all” and aims at ensuring full as well as productive employment along with decent
work for all men and women alike (United Nations, 2019). This paper attempts to
look at the interaction among individual and organizational strategies to achieve
Work-Life Balance (WLB) and their associations with subjective wellbeing (SWB)
of individuals working in the RMG sector of Bangladesh. This paper also looks at
the degree to which one’s satisfaction with life as measured through the Satisfaction
with Life Scale (SWLS) affects the aforementioned relationship (Diener et al., 1985).
Curiosity about this issue is obvious given that achievement of WLB and a good
SWB at the micro level catalyzes common wellbeing of the workers at the macro
level (one of the agendas of ‘Decent Work’ specified by ILO and included in SDGs)
assisting a country to achieve SDG 8 (United Nations System Chief Executives
Board for Coordination; International Labour Office, 2008).
WLB indicates the extent to which people’s involvement and satisfaction are balanced
between family and work (Greenhaus & Singh, 2003; Gregory & Milner, 2009). Work
life integration, on the contrary, is a broader concept and is defined as the capability
of individuals to combine or, integrate work and family responsibilities effectively
with as minimum conflict as possible (Clark, 2000; Wheatley, 2017). In personal life
of every individual there exists a range of commitments, duties and responsibilities,
which changes over the course of his/her life. In most cases, family occupies the
largest part of one’s life. Therefore, researchers favor integration rather than just a
balance between work and life (Fagan et al., 2012). However, there are limitations
in work-life integration literatures. A few of them are summarized in Feigon et al.
(2018). They are: (a) the construct of work/life is not consistent (b) there is a scarcity
of research related to evidence-based recommendations and (c) population of study
is limited to gender, ethnicity, professional field, phases of profession (Feigon et
al., 2018). Moreover, it is imperative that work-life conflict, also the starting point
of the Work-Life integration, is the flipside of work-life balance. Therefore, it is
unnecessary to separately focus on these issues. In this study, the primary focus is
on work-life balance (WLB), rather than work-life integration (WLI) and work-life
conflict (WLC).
Work-family conflict , often defined as inter-role conflict, refers to the fact that work
and life roles are incompatible to each other (Carlson et al., 2000; Greenhaus &
Beutell, 1985). Research on this issue further reveals the fact that such conflict affects
psychological distress, job satisfaction, organization commitment, turnover and life
satisfaction (Carlson et al., 2000; Frone et al., 1992; Higgins et al., 1992; O’Driscoll
et al., 1992; Parasuraman et al., 1989). Only work-life balance could relieve stress,
Interaction between Individual and Corporate Work Life Balance Strategies and their Associations with Subjective Wellbeing : Evidence from RMG Sector of Bangladesh 35

increase job satisfaction, reduce turnover and improve life satisfaction (Antai et al.,
2015; Anttila et al., 2015; Gröpel & Kuhl, 2009; Wheatley, 2017; Zheng et al., 2015).
Work-life balance provides implied support to the philosophy of Quality of Work
Life (QWL), which states that people are the primary resource of an organization and
they must be treated with dignity and respect (Tabassum et al., 2011). Therefore, the
authors of this article are motivated to check if garments workers of Bangladesh have
work-life balance (WLB) and consequently enjoy a satisfied life or not. If they do, it
implies that their organizations are also living by the principles of QWL.
This research focuses on the workers of RMG sector in Bangladesh and their
WLB, SWB as well as Satisfaction with life (SWL) status. Bangladesh has made
a remarkable progress in terms of economic and social indicators. Bangladesh is
one of the fastest growing economies in the world with an average GDP growth of
appx. 7%. The Bangladesh apparel industry is one of the major engines of economic
growth in Bangladesh. The industry contributes over 11% of the GDP and employs
over 4 million workers, of whom majority are women. The RMG sector contributes
to 83.9% of export in Bangladesh, making it the largest contributor to FX reserves in
the FY 2017-18 (Ovi, 2018; Shahajada Mia & Masrufa Akter, 2019). There are many
instances in the past those point fingers to the quality of life (both family and work)
and earnings related problems of Bangladeshi RMG workers as major reasons for
labor unrests in the sector (Islam & Siengthai, 2009; Weber-Steinhaus, 2019).
Previous studies have focused individually on wellbeing of the workers (Hasan et
al., 2017), relationships among supervisor behavior, compensation and benefit and
work-life balance (Rubel & Kee, 2014), individual mechanisms to tackle WLC issues
(Akter, 2013) and factors affecting QWL (Marium Akter, 2018). However, there are
no studies focusing on the interaction among factors affecting WLB (antecedents),
individual and organizational WLB strategies, work-life balance and subjective
wellbeing. This paper aims to fill that void by investigating how work-life balance
interacts with one’s own perception about his/her personal wellbeing in the garments
industry of Bangladesh.
1.1 Objectives of the Study
This study attempts to determine the relationship between WLB variables, WLB,
Individual and corporate WLB strategies, and interaction between individual and
organizational WLB with SWB of the RMG workers of the country. It also attempts
to determine the WLB, SWB and SWLS statuses of the aforesaid group.
1.2 Key Research Questions
(a) What is the current WLB status of the workers in Bangladeshi textile and
RMG sectors?
(b) What is the state of affective SWB and SWL of the textile and RMG
workers in Bangladesh?
36 Journal of Business Administration, Vol. 43, No. 1, June, 2022, ISSN : 1680-9823 (Print), 2708-4779 (Online)

(c) How do WLB variables affect overall WLB status of the RMG workers
in Bangladesh? To what extent do the interaction between individual and
organizational WLB affect overall WLB status?
(d) What individual WLB strategies are of significant importance to balance
work and lives of the people in RMG and textile sectors of Bangladesh?
(e) Do the interactions among individual and corporate WLB policies affect
the affective SWB of the RMG workers of the country?
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
This section of the paper reviews the literature on work-life balance and the variables
to be used in the study.
2.1 Factors Affecting WLB
Characteristics of work and life both affect an individual’s personal life and are
predictors of work-life balance (Antai et al., 2015). Therefore, variables for both
work and family domains are important to understand underlying forces affecting
work-life balance.
2.2 Temporal and Spatial Flexibility
Time flexibility has been increasingly getting attention of the researchers in analysis of
quality of work-life and work-life balance (Messenger, 2011). A 5-day working week,
8 hours of working time during a day, free evenings, weekends, annual holidays and
time flexibilities for work have become common practices in modern organizations
(Anttila et al., 2015; Craig & Powell, 2011; Fagan et al., 2012; Rapoport & Le
Bourdais, 2008; Supiot, 1999). Remote working as well as flexibility and autonomy
in setting own working hours have both positive and negative consequences in
theory and in practice. Prior research shows that employees have a tendency to exert
additional effort in work if they are allowed to set their own working hours (Anttila
et al., 2015; Kelliher & Anderson, 2008). Long working week, unsocial working
hours, high working time tempo generally have negative association and autonomy
has positive association with work-life balance (Grzywacz & Marks, 2000). Working
time tempo reflects intensity of working time (Adam, 1995; Anttila et al., 2015;
Fagan et al., 2012).
As far as spatial flexibility is concerned, it is heavily argued and debated that
spatial flexibility may have impact on satisfaction, child care and family wellbeing
of employees (Anttila et al., 2015; Felstead et al., 2002). However, contradictory
arguments are also present. Working from home may interfere with relationships
between employees with their personal time, family relationships (Such as,
relationship with partner) and relationships with children (Anttila et al., 2015;
Maruyama & Tietze, 2012; Sullivan, 2012).
Interaction between Individual and Corporate Work Life Balance Strategies and their Associations with Subjective Wellbeing : Evidence from RMG Sector of Bangladesh 37

2.3 Role Conflict

According to role theory, an individual experiences greater stress, dissatisfaction and
inefficiency in work if that individual’s behavior is inconsistent to the expectations
imposed on him/her (Rizzo et al., 1970). As it is implied in Gregory and Milner
(2009), role conflict can be further elaborated as the role overload created by the
imposed expectations from both work and family (Gregory & Milner, 2009). Role
conflict, in this study, is measured through Rizzo, House, and Lirtzman’s (1970)
eight-item measure of role conflict (which includes FOUR dimensions of role
conflict) (Carlson et al., 2000; Rizzo et al., 1970).
The major dimensions of role conflict, as mentioned earlier, are discussed below:
(a) Person – role Conflict:
It is the conflict between an individual’s own internal values and defined role behavior
(Kahn et al., 1964; Rizzo et al., 1970).
(b) Intra – role Conflict:
It is a conflict between an individual’s actual and defined role behavior created by
scarcity of time, resources or capabilities created by another person of a related role.
It can be termed as intra-sender conflict from the other person’s perspective. On the
contrary, from the point of view of the individual concerned, it is an intra-role or
person-role conflict (Gross et al., 1958; Rizzo et al., 1970).
This conflict can be created for several reasons. One such reason is explained by
Kahn et al. (1964) who mentioned that people at different roles send communications
to a focal person, who himself/herself is in a role. If these communications are not
compatible and two or more than two of such incompatible communications are sent,
compliance for the focal person would become a problem creating what had already
been termed as intra-sender conflict earlier on (Kahn et al., 1964; Shumate & Fulk,
2004). It is implied that this conflict may arise from work as well as from home, such
as: spouse vs. parent.
(c) Inter – role conflict or role overload:
Sometimes an individual needs to perform several roles which may require that
individual to act differently based on situations. Such incompatible behavior, which
is a function of situation, can be defined as role overload or, inter-role conflict (Gross
et al., 1958; Rizzo et al., 1970).
2.4 Unsocial Working Hour and Autonomy
Antai et al. (2015), on the contrary, looked only at temporal and spatial flexibilities
across different countries using the following variables such as: work hours, unsocial
work hours, autonomy, work-time intensity and workplace flexibility. Results show
that in all the countries, all the variables had negative relationship with good work-
life balance except for need fulfillment (Anttila et al., 2015). However, working time
flexibility does not affect employees of every country similarly. Lott (2015) conducted
38 Journal of Business Administration, Vol. 43, No. 1, June, 2022, ISSN : 1680-9823 (Print), 2708-4779 (Online)

a working-time flexibility survey on UK, Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands

and found that employees of both genders from Netherlands and Sweden were more
benefited from working-time flexibility and autonomy (Lott, 2015). Gröpel and Kuhl
(2009) in their study looked at correlation among different WLB variables which
includes: intimacy, sociability/separation, acceptance, altruism, receiving help,
approval, status, autonomy/dependence (autonomy here refers to an individual’s
ability to set working hours and place), performance/failure, control, understanding,
sense of meaning, excitement, trust in oneself/embarrassment, and self-reward
(Gröpel & Kuhl, 2009). Therefore, autonomy can be placed under both temporal and
spatial flexibilities. Unsocial working hour, which is also another WLB variable, can
be placed under temporal flexibility. Anttila et al. (2015) also considered ‘Autonomy’
as an important WLB variable in (Anttila et al., 2015). For the purpose of this study,
only autonomy is included since it is not only a variable affecting WLB but also
reflective of temporal and spatial flexibilities.
2.5 Individual WLB Strategy
Human beings are irrepressible, proactive and possess the capability of guiding their
own locus of control by reshaping several parameters and activities in ways which
bear meaning at both home and work (Clark, 2000; Zheng et al., 2015). Greenhaus
and Powell (2006), in their Work – family enrichment theory, argued that people
obtain a number of resources and skills as they cross borders between family and
life on a daily basis. A list of these skills include several psychological, physical,
social-capital, flexible and material resources and these often cover a number of task
related cognitive, interpersonal and multitasking skills necessary for both work and life
enrichment (Greenhaus & Powell, 2006; Zheng et al., 2015). For the purpose of this
study, a 6-item individual WLB strategy, reflecting the aforementioned items, is used.
2.6 Organizational WLB Strategy
The systems approach of WLB strategy gives an idea about what an organization can
do in order to offer a balance between work and life of its employees (Bird, 2006).
Bird (2006) also argued that both individual and work-related strategies are equally
important for work-life balance of the working individuals (Bird, 2006). Therefore,
it can be concluded that list of individual skills, capabilities and organizational
strategies such as: reducing emphasis on time at work and/or, flexitime, notice for
overtime, part-time work, job sharing, reducing working hours, townships, celebrating
festivals, bring your family to your workplace, travel as incentive, movies, cultural,
sports and recreational events, yoga clubs, volunteering to encourage employees
and their families to address social issues, transport facility child care center, child
schooling, leave provisions, peer support, supervisory support, eldercare facilities
and maternity benefits are found in different literatures as organizational WLB
policies (Aluwihare-Samaranayake et al., 2018; Baral et al., 2011; Chandra, 2012;
Ilsøe et al., 2017; Tasnim et al., 2017; Uddin et al., 2013; Zheng et al., 2015). In
this study, organizational WLB strategy is developed based on these aforementioned
variables culminating into a 21 item construct.
Interaction between Individual and Corporate Work Life Balance Strategies and their Associations with Subjective Wellbeing : Evidence from RMG Sector of Bangladesh 39

2.7 Measuring WLB

Work-Life Balance variable has been measured in different ways in different studies
based on the demand and nature of the study. For example, Antai et al. (2015) has
considered WLB as a dichotomous variable and their responses were dichotomized
as either good or poor. The question which they asked was, “In general, do your
working hours fit in with your family or social commitments outside work?”(Antai
et al., 2015). Mathew and Panchanatham (2011) have measured WLB using a 5
point likert scale based on a statement used in Wong and Ko (2009) (Mathew &
Panchanatham, 2011; Wong & Ko, 2009). The statement is: “I am having a satisfactory
level of work-life balance” (Mathew and Panchanatham, p. 85, 2011). One literature
also measured work-life balance enhancer using a combination of multiple factors,
such as: approach of problem solving used at job which had also been proved to be
effective in home-domain, strategies used at work which had also been proved to be
effective for an individual to be a better parent as well as spouse (Singh, 2014).
Wong and Ko’s (2009) question was used as a guideline for this study. As mentioned
earlier, this question tends to identify the status of an individual’s work-life balance. 4,
instead of 6 items, of this question are used in this research due to repetitive contents.
2.8 Subjective Wellbeing (SWB)
Subjective wellbeing (SWB) reflects the degree to which an individual considers
himself/herself satisfied with his/her life (Gröpel & Kuhl, 2009). It is the cognitive
component of SWB. Gröpel and Kuhl (2009) also used the concept of SWB to
determine positive and negative moods of individuals and termed these together as
the affective component of SWB (Gröpel & Kuhl, 2009). Following are the variables
used in this study to determine affective component of Bangladeshi garment workers’
SWB:
Positive Mood: happy, joyful, pleased, and confident
Negative Mood: sad, depressed, frustrated, and anxious (Gröpel & Kuhl, 2009;
Quirin et al., 2009)
For determining the status of the cognitive component of SWB, however, a five-item
construct called the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) had been used (Diener et
al., 1985). The items were scored using a 7 point likert scale with 1 being highly
dissatisfied and 7 being highly satisfied. In addition and also contradiction to the
prior studies, this study wants to see how the affective component of SWB affects
the cognitive component of the SWB. Because, it is only rational to posit that an
individual’s emotional expression will certainly affect his/her perception of happiness
in life. Moreover, this breakdown will help us to identify how individual variables of
this study create an emotional response in individuals. In addition, if the results prove
that the affective component of SWB affects SWLS, it will also help us to segregate
perceptual response of an individual about his/her own degree of satisfaction with life
from the work and family related events for creating a certain emotional expression.
The intention to test the aforesaid dependency is in line with the findings from Nzeku
40 Journal of Business Administration, Vol. 43, No. 1, June, 2022, ISSN : 1680-9823 (Print), 2708-4779 (Online)

& Duffett (2021). They found that cognitive attitude positively influences affective
attitudes for tourists (Nzeku & Duffett, 2021). The construct of attitude is universally
used in many disciplines starting from education ending up to consumer behavior
(Fazio et al., 1989; Scanlon et al., 2022). In view of this universality of the attitude
construct, it is expected that the influence of the cognitive component on the affective
component of SWB will be positive and significant.
3. HYPOTHESES
3.1 Null Hypotheses
H01: There is no association present among duration, timing, tempo, autonomy,
spatial flexibility, role conflict, and interactions among individual and
organizational WLB policies, and WLB of RMG workers of Bangladesh.
H02: Individual WLB strategies do not affect WLB of RMG workers of Bangladesh.
H03: There is no association present among duration, timing, tempo, autonomy,
spatial flexibility, role conflict, WLB, SWLS, and interactions among
individual and organizational WLB and SWB of Bangladeshi Garments
workers.
Ha1: Duration, timing, tempo, autonomy, spatial flexibility, role conflict, and
interactions among individual and organizational WLB policies significantly
affect WLB of Bangladeshi RMG workers.
Ha2: All individual WLB strategies significantly affect WLB of RMG workers of
Bangladesh.
Ha3: Duration, timing, tempo, autonomy, spatial flexibility, role conflict, WLB,
SWLS, and interactions among individual and organizational WLB
significantly affect SWB of Bangladeshi Garments workers.
Hasan et al. (2017) studied overall wellbeing of RMG workers and considered
WLB as one of the components of it. However, the complex dynamics of the WLB
variable itself and subjective wellbeing of the workers were not studied. Asadullah &
Talukder (2019) tried to identify SWB of the RMG workers without segregating the
cognitive aspect from the affective aspects. They found that WLB enhances SWB.
But, they did not attempt to determine how workers’ beliefs or, preconception about
their lives affect the affective component of SWB. Moreover, their main purpose
was to individually identify pecuniary and non-pecuniary aspects of SWB, not the
job and work aspect of SWB (Asadullah & Talukder, 2019). SWB in the context
of urban dweller was measured by Mahmud & Sawada (2018). However, their
primary interest was to determine how environment affect SWB, not WLB (Mahmud
& Sawada, 2018). Tarafder (2020), in her PhD thesis, tried to deepen the concept
of Employee Wellbeing (EWB) from a developing country perspective. Her study
also targeted Bangladeshi RMG workers. However, she did not try to determine
overall satisfaction of RMG workers with their lives and neither did she determine
how satisfactions with life of the RMG workers affect SWB (Tarafder, 2020). In a
Interaction between Individual and Corporate Work Life Balance Strategies and their Associations with Subjective Wellbeing : Evidence from RMG Sector of Bangladesh 41

nutshell, this study is addressing a number of gaps in the existing literature. They are:
(a) determining overall status of affective SWB, SWL (cognitive SWB), and overall
WLB status of Bangladeshi RMG workers, (b) determining the role that cognitive
component of SWB and WLB plays to predict affective SWB of Bangladeshi RMG
workers, and (c) identify how interactions between organizational and individual
WLB strategies affect workers’ SWB and overall WLB status in the RMG sector of
the country. Additionally, the interaction effect of individual and organization WLB
on WLB and SWB has also not been tested. Furthermore, no one, to the best of
our knowledge and search of literature, has tried to identify which individual WLB
strategy affects WLB the most. This research is going to focus on these issues, too.
3.2 Conceptual Framework

Figure 1 : Conceptual Framework [The dotted boxes correspond to the predictors and predicted variables
related to WLB. The dotted lines reflect the direction of causality. Solid lines and boxes, on the contrary,
show the direction of causality and variables related to the affective component of SWB respectively.]

4. METHODOLOGY
This is a confirmatory research in the sense that this research wants to test a few
hypotheses related to WLB and SWB of garments workers of Bangladesh (Zikmund,
2003). A primary survey was conducted on a selected sample of garment workers and
their responses had been recorded using a 5 point Likert scale (except for the SWB
and WLB components, scoring mechanism for these had been discussed earlier).
Some of the questions were set in reverse order for which reverse scoring had been
used. Ordinary Least Square (OLS) is used to determine associations among different
variables of the study. STATA was used for data analysis.
4.1 Sampling Method and Type
It was found in Shahajada Mia and Masrufa Akter (2019) that about 4 million workers
are directly employed in RMG sector of the country (Shahajada Mia & Masrufa
Akter, 2019). For the purpose of the study, purposive sampling method has been
chosen and 241 samples from different ready-made garments and textile firms were
taken. The formula to calculate sample size is, n = N*X / (X + N – 1), where, X =
Zα/22 *p*(1-p) / MOE2 (Daniel & Cross, 2018).
42 Journal of Business Administration, Vol. 43, No. 1, June, 2022, ISSN : 1680-9823 (Print), 2708-4779 (Online)

Here, n = sample size, Zα/2 is the critical value of Normal distribution at α/2, MOE
= margin of Error, p = sample proportion (assumed to be 0.5 for getting maximum
value for a given population). Therefore, sample size for this study at 5% margin
of error = 385 and for 10% margin of error = 68. Initially targeted sample size was
385, but only 241 could be reached. Calculation shows that 241 as a sample size is
standard for a 6.05% margin of error, which is pretty close to 5%.
The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA)
indicate that there are 4,000+ garments factories in Bangladesh (BGMEA, 2022). In
several earlier studies, researchers have taken samples from around 20 RMG firms
to conduct their studies (Alam & Dhamija, 2022; Marium Akter, 2018; Rubel &
Kee, 2014). Following their footprint, samples were collected from 20 large RMG
companies due to time, resource and access related limitations. In view of the
acceptability of the prior research and availability of responses from 241 respondents,
it can be confidently concluded that the sample size is representative of the ground
realities for the RMG sector of the country.
4.2 Quantitative Models
For the purpose of the study the following OLS models will be used:
Model 1
WLBi = β0 + β1 DURi + β2TIMINGi + β3TEMPOi+ β4 AUTONOMYi +
β5SPATIAL_FLEXi + β6ROLE_CONFLICTi + β7INDWLBi * ORGWLBi +
εi………………………………. (1)
Model 2
WLBj = δ0 + δ1 AOj + δ2APj + δ3AQj + δ4ARj + δ5 ASj + δ6 ATj + θj……….. (2)
Model 3
SWBk = γ0 + γ1DURk + γ2TIMINGk + γ3TEMPOi + γ4AUTONOMYk + γ5SPATIAL_
FLEXk + γ6ROLE_CONFLICTk + γ7WLBj + γ8SWLSk + γ9INDWLBk * ORGWLBk
+ μk………….. (3)
[αi, δj, γk = Intercept terms, εi, θj, μk = Error terms, β, δ, γ = Coefficients]
In case of the presence of Heteroskedasticity, OLS with robust standard errors is
applied.
Operationalizing of the Variables
Table A1 of the appendix show the operationalization of the aforementioned variables.
5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Descriptive analyses show that (please see tables A4 – A7) RMG workers of
Bangladesh possess Neutral Positive mood and High Negative mood. In other words,
they are unhappy. The WLB scores show that RMG workers’ WLB is Moderate.
However, most importantly, the workers’ cognitive component of wellbeing or, beliefs
Interaction between Individual and Corporate Work Life Balance Strategies and their Associations with Subjective Wellbeing : Evidence from RMG Sector of Bangladesh 43

about satisfaction with life is Low. If WLB cannot be improved and individuals’
satisfaction with lives cannot be changed, aggressive outbursts or, other negative and
extreme emotional response is imminent.
To test the relationship presented in equation (1), Ordinary Least Square (OLS) was
applied first (Please see Table A2 of the appendix). However, Breusch-Pagan / Cook-
Weisberg test for Heteroskedasticity proves that there is Heteroskedasticity present
in the model. Therefore, OLS with robust standard errors have been used. The
R-squared of the regression Table 1(a) confirms that the model can explain around
95.46% variations in WLB. Autonomy has the highest negative impact on WLB and
is also significant at 1%. It indicates that the autonomy to set rosters for duty reduces
WLB of Bangladeshi RMG workers. It is contrary to the findings of most literature
(Grzywacz & Marks, 2000). However, negative relationship between these two
variables is not unfounded in other countries (as shown earlier). It is possible that the
autonomy to set own schedule of duty increases their tendency to exert more efforts
to work (Anttila et al., 2015; Kelliher & Anderson, 2008). This may cause disruptions
in the balance between work and life. Among the rest of the variables, Tempo has the
highest significant positive impact on WLB (p<0.01). This finding is well in line with
existing literature. The same is true for Timing. The Interaction between individual
and organizational WLB strategies was also found to enhance WLB indicating the
fact that supportive policies from the organization added with appropriate planning
from an individual can improve his/her WLB score. However, Spatial Flexibility
and Duration do not have significant effect on WLB. This is contrary to the initial
prediction and findings from prior literature (Anttila et al., 2015). Table 1(b) shows
regression results for all of the aforementioned variables except for the Interaction
term and includes Individual as well as Organizational WLB as individual variables.
The results reflect that Individual WLB is an insignificant predictor of WLB. However,
Organizational WLB policy has significant impact on WLB of the workers. The nature
of significance of other variables is similar to those in Table 1(a) except for Spatial
Flexibility. In Table 1(b), Spatial Flexibility is shown to have a marginal significance
at 10%. It is also important to mention here that the degrees of significance of the
variables in Table 1(b) are slightly different from those of Table 1(a). In short, the
findings from the comparison of Table 1(a) and 1(b) show that Interaction between
individual and organizational WLB is a significant predictor of WLB despite the
fact that Individual WLB is insignificant. Therefore, if organizations do not have
appropriate WLB policies, despite taking individual strategies to balance work and
life commitments, workers will fail to attain their objectives.
44 Journal of Business Administration, Vol. 43, No. 1, June, 2022, ISSN : 1680-9823 (Print), 2708-4779 (Online)

Table 1(a) : Robust Regression

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
WLB
INDEPENDENT ROBUST STANDARD
COEF. T
VARIABLES ERROR
-0.1243301
DUR 0.1252537 -0.99
(0.322)
0.0815596*
TIMING 0.047114 1.73
(0.085)
0.6809055***
TEMPO 0.1068151 6.37
(0.000)
-0.7716906***
AUTONOMY 0.1283752 -6.01
(0.000)
0.1103612
SPATIAL_FLEX 0.4965766 0.22
(0.824)
0.2869106***
ROLE_CONFLICT 0.0387131 7.41
(0.000)
0.0067976***
INDWLB*ORGWLB 0.001798 3.78
(0.000)
-7.625276***
CONSTANT 1.661032 -4.59
(0.000)
Prob > F= 0.0000, R-squared = 0.9546,
*** Significant at 1%, ** Significant at 5%, *Significant at 10%, p values in parentheses

Table 1(b) : Robust Regression without interaction term

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
WLB
INDEPENDENT ROBUST STANDARD
COEF. T
VARIABLES ERROR
0.0019616
DUR 0.0710186 0.03
(0.978)
-0.4034763***
TIMING 0.1136627 -3.55
(0.000)
0.4480153***
TEMPO 0.1085651 4.13
(0.000)
-0.39439***
AUTONOMY 0.146536 -2.69
(0.008)
Interaction between Individual and Corporate Work Life Balance Strategies and their Associations with Subjective Wellbeing : Evidence from RMG Sector of Bangladesh 45

0.4623441*
SPATIAL_FLEX 0.2796582 1.65
(0.100)
ROLE_ 0.1654565***
0.0463749 3.57
CONFLICT (0.000)
0.0518809
INDWLB 0.0966368 0.54
(0.592)
0.2898911***
ORGWLB 0.0450706 6.43
(0.000)
-10.79968***
CONSTANT 2.92033 -3.70
(0.000)
Prob > F = 0.0000, R-squared = 0.9739,
*** Significant at 1%, ** Significant at 5%, *Significant at 10%, p values in parentheses

To understand which individual WLB strategies are better, regression was run with
WLB being the dependent variable and individual strategies as the independent ones
equation (2). Findings suggest that the ability to meet community commitments and
sharing childcare facilities have significant positive influence on WLB (Table 2).
This finding is also in line with prior literature (Greenhaus & Powell, 2006; Zheng et
al., 2015). It is important to mention here that Hofstede’s study on cultural dimension
confirms Bangladesh to be a collective society (Bernard et al., 2022; Robbins &
Judge, 2015). Therefore, it is obvious that community commitments are significantly
important in collective culture. As mentioned in Quynh (2021), collectivism in a
society creates an expectation among individuals that their family members will
look after them in need (Quynh, 2021). Collectivism can therefore be offered as
a plausible explanation for the above relationship. However, capability to manage
stressful situation and ability to meet lifestyle commitments has significant negative
influence on WLB. This is completely opposite of the suggestions of prior literature
(Greenhaus & Powell, 2006; Zheng et al., 2015).
Table 2 : Robust Regression for Ind. WLB Strategies and WLB
DEPENDENT VARIABLES
WLB
INDEPENDENT ROBUST STANDARD
COEF. T
VARIABLES ERROR
-0.2290943
AO 1.819396 -0.13
(0.900)
-3.825504***
AP 0.291079 -13.14
(0.000)
0.879584
AQ 2.526865 0.35
(0.728)
46 Journal of Business Administration, Vol. 43, No. 1, June, 2022, ISSN : 1680-9823 (Print), 2708-4779 (Online)

1.130023**
AR 0.4960204 2.28
(0.024)
-1.9027***
AS 0.4113004 -4.63
(0.000)
2.068243***
AT 0.2033338 10.17
(0.000)
16.11231***
CONSTANT 1.972899 8.17
(0.000)
Prob > F = 0.0000, R-squared = 0.9290
*** Significant at 1%, ** Significant at 5%, *Significant at 10%, p values in parentheses

[AO = Maintaining a positive outlook, AP = Capability to Manage stressful

situation, AQ = Arranging times to help others, AR = Sharing childcare
responsibilities with parents/spouse/other family members, AS = Ability to meet
lifestyle commitments, AT = Ability to fulfill community commitments]
Robust regression is also used to determine how WLB variables, WLB itself and
cognitive component of wellbeing affect the affective component of wellbeing of
RMG workers in the country (3). Table 3 shows that SWL of an individual (Cognitive
component of SWB) has the highest positive and significant effect on the affective
wellbeing of the workers followed by Autonomy. It indicates that the beliefs of the
workers about one’s own satisfaction with life along with freedom to set his/her
own roster make the person happy in his/her life. Role conflict is found to have a
negative relationship with affective SWB. These findings offer valuable insights to
the research community and practitioners to design appropriate stimuli to bring a
positive emotional response in the RMG workers’ lives.
Internal consistency or, reliability of all composite scales have been determined
and summarized in Table A2. Except for Tempo, Spatial Flexibility and Affective
SWB, all other scales have acceptable Cronbach’s Alphas (close to 0.6 or, above).
However, keeping these constructs in line with the suggestions of existing literature
is important since identification factors for the items are beyond the scope of this
study and can be taken as individual investigations by themselves. The VIF values of
models 1, 2 and 3 are 5.09, 9.63 and 11.74 respectively. Only model 3 has marginally
higher VIF than the rule of thumb 10. However, they are well within 30. Therefore,
it can be concluded that multicollinearity problems for the models are not significant
concerns as this is between 10 and 30 indicating weak multicollinearity (Peduzzi et
al., 2012). Earlier research also shows that even high multicollinearity may not be
a problem unless the standard error is high (Alin, 2010). In this study, the standard
error is rather small nullifying the possibility of any serious consequences of weak
collinearity for the concerned Model (Model 3).
Interaction between Individual and Corporate Work Life Balance Strategies and their Associations with Subjective Wellbeing : Evidence from RMG Sector of Bangladesh 47

Table 3 : Robust Regression Output

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
SWB
INDEPENDENT ROBUST STANDARD
COEF. T
VARIABLES ERROR
0.076782
DUR 0.087302 0.88
(0.380)
0.063337
TIMING 0.049473 1.28
(0.202)
0.01382
TEMPO 0.145493 0.09
(0.924)
0.251122*
AUTONOMY 0.138117 1.82
(0.070)
-0.24556
SPATIAL_FLEX 0.306721 -0.8
(0.424)
-0.27541***
ROLE_CONFLICT 0.073173 -3.76
(0.000)
0.2271931
WLB 0.1849824 1.23
(0.221)
0.342823**
SWLS 0.113986 3.01
(0.003)
-0.00119
INDWLB*ORGWLB 0.00215 -0.55
(0.580)
29.87024***
CONSTANT 2.602522 11.48
(0.000)
Prob > F = 0.0000, R-squared = 0.4788
*** Significant at 1%, ** Significant at 5%, *Significant at 10%, p values in parentheses

In summary, it can be said that that the interaction of individual and organizational
WLB is insignificant to improve happiness of the RMG workers. But, a few
organizational policies are. Moreover, a few individual WLB strategies improve
the balance between work and life of the respondents, but that does not affect their
subjective wellbeing. Additionally, role conflict reduces workers’ SWB. Despite
the fact that spatial flexibility, timing and tempo affect WLB, they neither directly
nor indirectly affect SWB. Therefore, instead on focusing on all individual WLB
variables, specific focus on autonomy and organizational WLB policies (a list of
which is already given in the literature review section on this study) will be more
effective to make RMG workers happy in their lives. It is, however, important to
remember that policy measures are also necessary to turn negative cognitive beliefs
about a worker’s satisfaction with life to positive beliefs. This complex dynamics
must be closely studied by RMG managers to identify the specific policy that they
48 Journal of Business Administration, Vol. 43, No. 1, June, 2022, ISSN : 1680-9823 (Print), 2708-4779 (Online)

must adopt for offering a better organizational experience to their workers in a

Bangladeshi context. Similarly, the RMG workers can also learn about the meaningful
WLB strategies they need to adopt in order to improve their overall satisfaction with
life and happiness.
6. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS
Interaction between Subjective wellbeing and Work-life balance is severely under-
researched. This paper looks at several dimensions of Work-Life Balance (WLB),
Subjective Wellbeing (SWB), individual WLB strategies (INDWLB), Organizational
Work-Life Balance (ORGWLB) and satisfaction with life (SWLS) of the RMG
workers of Bangladesh. The findings suggest that positive and significant relationship
exists among (a) Timing, (b) Tempo, (c) Role Conflict, (d) Interaction between
individual and organizational WLB and (e) overall WLB of the RMG workers of
Bangladesh. However, individual WLB strategies do not significantly affect WLB.
This finding offers new knowledge about the RMG workers of Bangladesh implying
the fact that organizational policies and individual strategies can collectively
improve WLB in the RMG sectors of the country. Moreover, role conflict’s positive
association with WLB, a contrary evidence with literature as mentioned earlier, may
indicate that a certain level of role conflict is probably assumed by the RMG workers
as an expected phenomenon. However, detailed research is warranted to understand
the reason for this relationship. In addition to this, affective Subjective Wellbeing
(SWB) of the RMG workers has been found to be positively enhanced by (a) workers’
beliefs about his/her own satisfaction with life, and (b) autonomy to set his/her own
roster. However, role conflict does not make the workers happy, as measured by the
affective SWB score. This is also another interesting knowledge about the SWB of
the RMG workers in the country. Because, role conflict positively influences WLB
but negatively influences happiness. Therefore, caution is needed to set appropriate
policies to both improve WLB and happiness of the RMG workers of the country.
Earlier research works do not indicate the level of happiness of Bangladeshi RMG
workers, their overall WLB status and Satisfaction with Life. This gap is also filled
by this study. The findings of this research implies that Bangladeshi workers (in the
RMG and textile sectors) are unhappy, enjoys moderate WLB and do not believe that
they are satisfied with their lives. This is detrimental for the wellbeing of the workers
and puts the country behind as far as achieving SDG 8, or, offering an environment
of ‘decent work’ is concerned.
6.1 Future Research Directions
Contrary to earlier researches in this field, this study also attempts to identify the
effectiveness of each individual WLB strategy to improve overall WLB status of
individual workers of the RMG sector of the country. Findings, as mentioned above,
suggest that an individual’s capability to share childcare responsibilities with family
members and meet community commitments positively affect WLB. However,
ability to manage stressful situation and meeting lifestyle commitments has negative
Interaction between Individual and Corporate Work Life Balance Strategies and their Associations with Subjective Wellbeing : Evidence from RMG Sector of Bangladesh 49

relationship with WLB. The latter findings imply that greater inability to manage
stress and meet all of the lifestyle requirements can better balance RMG workers’
works and lives. One reason for such a finding may be the fact that the RMG workers
are unaware of the sources, effects and ways to manage stress in their lives. Therefore,
they have taken it for granted that to balance work and life, stress in inevitable. In
addition, they may have found that improving WLB requires sacrificing fulfillment of
their lifestyle requirements. These findings have certainly opened a door for additional
and detailed qualitative research in this field to better understand the sources, effects,
and remedies for the current state of mindset, inabilities, and ignorance of the RMG
workers. It is also to be noted here that collective insignificance of the individual
WLB strategies and higher significance of a few individual WLB strategies has also
opened avenues for further research.
As far as policy directions are concerned, this research dictates that (a) spatial flexibility
is irrelevant as a WLB policy, (b) individual WLB strategies needs to be revisited, (c)
psychological training and counseling must be offered to corporate houses as well as
individual households to improve both cognitive and affective SWB, (d) organizations
must set effective WLB policies to improve WLB and happiness of their employees, (e)
national level projects need to be undertaken to assess affective and cognitive SWBs
of workers of different sectors and identify sectoral solutions to offer a countrywide
enabling environment to all Bangladeshi employees for achieving SDG 8. In addition
to these, Bangladeshi organizations must ensure that their HR policies effectively
acknowledge the needs for psychological, career and lifestyle counseling in order
to ensure decent works at the micro level and to improve overall wellbeing of their
workers at the macro level of the country. Collective efforts to ensure better SWB
of the workers will help the RMG firms to comply with and exceed international
guidelines set for them and snatch recognitions from their national and international
clients as humane organizations in an emerging economy like Bangladesh. It is high
time that this sector understands the importance of exceeding basic compliance to
improve their organization performance and sustainability as a whole.
50 Journal of Business Administration, Vol. 43, No. 1, June, 2022, ISSN : 1680-9823 (Print), 2708-4779 (Online)

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56 Journal of Business Administration, Vol. 43, No. 1, June, 2022, ISSN : 1680-9823 (Print), 2708-4779 (Online)

APPENDIX
Table A1 : Variables of the study
Independent
Model Dependent Variables
Variables
WLBi = Work – Life DURi/k = Duration
Balance TIMINGi/k = Timing
TEMPOi/k = Tempo
AUTONOMYi/k = Autonomy
Model 1
SPATIAL_FLEXi/k = Spatial Flexibility
ROLE_CONFLICTi/k = Role Conflict
INDWLBi/k*ORGWLBi/k = Interaction
between individual and organizational WLB
WLBj = Work – Life AOj = Maintaining a positive outlook
Balance APj = Capability to Manage stressful situation
AQj = Arranging times to help others
ARj = Sharing childcare responsibilities with
Model 2
parents/spouse/other family members
ASj = Ability to meet lifestyle commitments
ATj = Ability to fulfill community
commitments
SWBk = Affective DURk = Duration
component of TIMINGk = Timing
Subjective Wellbeing TEMPOk = Tempo
AUTONOMYk = Autonomy
SPATIAL_FLEXk = Spatial Flexibility
ROLE_CONFLICTk = Role Conflict
Model 3
INDWLBk * ORGWLBk = Interaction
between individual and organizational WLB
SWLSk = Satisfaction with life scale reflecting
an individual’s perception about his/her
satisfaction with life (Affective components
of SWB)
i,j,k = i, j and k – th individual
Interaction between Individual and Corporate Work Life Balance Strategies and their Associations with Subjective Wellbeing : Evidence from RMG Sector of Bangladesh 57

Table A2 : Internal Consistency

Scale Cronbach’s Alpha N of Items
WLB 0.8107 4
ORGANIZATIONAL WLB 0.9220 21
INDIVIDUAL WLB 0.8002 6
ROLE CONFLICT 0.8912 15
SPATIAL FLEXIBILITY 0.1176 2
AUTONOMY 0.7154 4
TEMPO 0.2431 4
TIMING 0.8395 4
DURATION 0.8502 3
TOTAL_SWB 0.3006 9
SWLS 0.5820 5
Table A3 : SWLS = Satisfaction With Life Scale (Cognitive) (Diener et al., 1985)

1 2 3 5 6 7
4
(Highly (Moderately (Slightly (Slightly (Moderately (Highly
(Neutral)
dissatisfied) Dissatisfied) Dissatisfied) satisfied) Satisfied) Satisfied)
In most ways my life is close to my ideal.
The conditions of my life are excellent.
I am satisfied with my life
So far I have gotten the important things I want in life
If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing
Table A4 :
SWB Affective: Positive Mood (1= Strongly Disagree, 5= Strongly Agree)
Score Happy Joyful Active Pleased Confident
1 0.63% 4.17% 32.26% 0% 10.2%
2 65.82% 45.83% 42.74% 65.63% 52.38%
3 24.05% 33.33% 2.42% 33.75% 0.68%
4 9.49% 16.67% 20.97% 0.63% 36.73%
5 0% 0% 1.61% 0% 0%
Weighted Average
2.42 2.63 2.17 2.35 2.6392
Score
Interpretation Neutral Neutral Neutral Neutral Neutral
Overall: Neutral Positive Mood
58 Journal of Business Administration, Vol. 43, No. 1, June, 2022, ISSN : 1680-9823 (Print), 2708-4779 (Online)

Table A5 :
SWB Affective: Negative Mood (1= Strongly Disagree, 5= Strongly Agree)
Score Sad Depressed Frustrated Anxious
1 0% 0% 0.65% 0%
2 35.21% 0% 9.74% 0%
3 0% 0% 38.96% 0%
4 64.79% 99.14% 34.42% 37.89%
5 0% 0.86% 16.23% 62.11%
Weighted
3.2958 4.0086 3.5584 4.6211
Average Score
Strongly Strongly
Interpretation Agree Agree
Agree Agree
Overall: High Negative Mood
Table A6 : WLB status of RMG workers of Bangladesh
WLB Count Weight Weighted Score
6 28 11.62% 0.6972
7 1 0.41% 0.0287
8 43 17.84% 1.4272
9 1 0.41% 0.0369
11 1 0.41% 0.0451
12 15 6.22% 0.7464
14 27 11.20% 1.568
TOTAL 242 100% 12.8321
Moderate WLB
Range:
Lowest WLB 4
Low WLB 4 – 12
Moderate WLB 13 – 16
High WLB 17 – 23
Highest WLB 24
Interaction between Individual and Corporate Work Life Balance Strategies and their Associations with Subjective Wellbeing : Evidence from RMG Sector of Bangladesh 59

Table A7 : SWLS
SWLS Freq. Percent Weighted Score
7 15 6.25% 0.43750
8 20 8.33% 0.66640
9 30 12.50% 1.12500
10 23 9.58% 0.95800
11 2 0.83% 0.09130 Range:
14 2 0.83% 0.11620 Lowest SWLS: 5
Low SWLS: 5 – 15
15 3 1.25% 0.18750
Neutral: 16 – 20
17 17 7.08% 1.20360 High SWLS: 21 – 34
18 101 42.08% 7.57440 Highest SWLS: 35
19 14 5.83% 1.10770
20 2 0.83% 0.16600
21 11 4.58% 0.96180
Total 240 1.00 14.60
Low SWL
 60
Table A8 : Correlations Matrix for items of Social Support
SPATIAL_ ROLE_
DUR TIMING TEMPO AUTONOMY INDWLB ORGWLB WLB SWB SWLS
FLEX CONFLICT
DUR 1
0.6842***
TIMING 1
(0.000)
-0.1866*** -0.3142***
TEMPO 1
(0.0037) (0.000)
0.1458** -0.2402*** 0.4159***
AUTONOMY 1
(0.0236) (0.0002) (0.000)
0.8734*** 0.7296*** -0.2793*** 0.1662***
SPATIAL_FLEX 1
(0.000) (0.000) (0.000) (0.0098)
0.8028*** 0.7388*** -0.2975*** 0.283*** 0.8777***
ROLE_CONFLICT 1
(0.000) (0.000) (0.000) (0.000) (0.000)
-0.2867*** -0.7154*** 0.1573** 0.183*** -0.3566*** -0.5415***
INDWLB 1
(0.000) (0.000) (0.0145) (0.0044) (0.000) (0.000)
0.5776*** 0.9289*** -0.3223*** -0.4679*** 0.5971*** 0.595*** -0.6497***
ORGWLB 1
(0.000) (0.000) (0.000) (0.000) (0.000) (0.000) (0.000)
0.652*** 0.8736*** -0.2662*** -0.3962*** 0.6761*** 0.6624*** -0.5901*** 0.9573***
WLB 1
(0.000) (0.000) (0.000) (0.000) (0.000) (0.000) (0.000) (0.000)
-0.1911*** -0.0481 0.2189*** -0.3968*** -0.2665*** -0.3784*** 0.0863 0.0803 0.1074*
SWB 1
(0.0029) (0.4572) (0.0006) (0.000) (0.000) (0.000) (0.182) (0.2143) (0.0964)
0.7679*** 0.8321*** -0.3158*** -0.1661*** 0.8175*** 0.8217*** -0.562*** 0.8095*** 0.9*** -0.0115
SWLS 1
(0.000) (0.000) (0.000) (0.0099) (0.000) (0.000) (0.000) (0.000) (0.000) (0.8599)
*** Significant at 1%, ** Significant at 5%, *Significant at 10%
Journal of Business Administration, Vol. 43, No. 1, June, 2022, ISSN : 1680-9823 (Print), 2708-4779 (Online)